Agriculture Essay Research Paper AgricultureAs soon as — страница 2

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conditions of the area. The native method is often a marvel of ingenuity developed over many generations through intimate contact with unique situations.There may be no bumper crops, but the wonder is that there is any crop at all. Many countries in the Western Hemisphere consistently produce more food than they use. The surpluses are stored in granaries and warehouses for later use or sale to other countries. Storing the surpluses costs money because giant bins and huge buildings must be built and maintained. Techniques for reducing spoilage and loss to pests add to the cost. As farmers continue to seek the greatest possible yield for the most reasonable cost, advanced agriculture is becoming as elaborate and as complicated as other modern industries. In the United States and in

other wealthy nations where population is not yet a burden, the cost of labor is relatively high and is the limiting factor in production. Thus there has been more and more mechanization and automation. In general, the world is no better fed today than decades ago. The world\’s population is growing at an alarming rate, and agriculture has just barely kept up with it. Despite overproduction in some nations, perhaps one out of six persons throughout the world is undernourished. Some studies show that as much as half of the world\’s population may be suffering from malnutrition or starvation. Distribution of agricultural surpluses to areas of deficiency seems an ideal solution. But it is far more difficult than it seems. The surpluses currently produced by agriculturally

advanced countries are often given to school lunch programs, to families on public assistance, and to welfare institutions within the nations themselves. Food and fiber crops are sold abroad for foreign currencies to improve the producing country\’s balance of trade. Even if the food could be easily distributed to other nations, the costs for transporting it run high. Some nations may complain that others ruin their markets by giving a commodity away or selling it at cut-rate prices. These problems, too, must be carefully weighed against the benefits to poorer countries. Because agriculture is so important to a nation\’s well-being, governments have always been concerned with it. For example, the United States and Canada have long produced surpluses that complicate their

economies. Surpluses tend to lower prices to farmers and seriously endanger the agriculture industry. Governments have instituted systems of price supports to maintain a fair price when surpluses cause prices to drop. The system in the United States is a good example. A government program supports the prices paid to farmers for grains, soybeans, cottonseed and other oilseeds, peanuts, cotton, tobacco, butter, cheese, dried milk, wool, mohair, and honey. Support prices are based on parity, which is the ratio between the prices farmers receive for their crops and the prices they must pay for things they need. The government selected the period from 1910 to 1914 as a time when farm prices were in a fair ratio with farming costs. This is the base period now used to determine parity

prices. The idea is to assure farmers that what they get for a bushel of wheat will buy the same amount of, say, seed as it did in the years of the base period. If prices drop too far below this ideal the government can help in a number of ways. For example, it may buy much of a surplus at parity prices. Governments have instituted a wide variety of other controls for prices and, also, for farm output, mainly at the request of the farmers themselves. Farm prices tend to fluctuate more than other prices do, and the incomes of farmers fluctuate along with farm prices. Various measures for maintaining farm prices and incomes include tariff or import levies, import quotas, export subsidies, direct payment to farmers, and limitations on production. All of these measures are useful and

are used to some extent by most developed countries. An important example of such a program is the soil-bank plan, which aimed at limiting production while improving farmland. The soil-bank plan was passed by the United States Congress in 1956. It allowed a farmer to witThere may be no bumper crops, but the wonder is that there is any crop at all. Many countries in the Western Hemisphere consistently produce more food than they use. The surpluses are stored in granaries and warehouses for later use or sale to other countries. Storing the surpluses costs money because giant bins and huge buildings must be built and maintained. Techniques for reducing spoilage and loss to pests add to the cost. As farmers continue to seek the greatest possible yield for the most reasonable cost,